


It All Adds Up

by lowlifetheory



Series: Follow You Anywhere [3]
Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Bloodlust, Depression, Fluff, Light BDSM, M/M, Mild Gore, Minor Character Death, Original Character Death(s), Smut, Submissive Klaus, Torture, alternative universe, author!Stefan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2018-12-23 00:43:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11978523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lowlifetheory/pseuds/lowlifetheory
Summary: They're still hunting for the cure to Klaus' curse but cracks are beginning to show and other enemies have raised their heads. Stefan's trying to hold it all together but when tragedy strikes everyone begins to face their demons.





	1. Chapter 1

'You know if you didn't jump into everything feet first Nik-' 

'I don't jump into everything feet first,' Klaus scowled at Stefan. Stefan sucked in a calming breath. 

'What I'm saying is planning is everything, you taught me that when we were town planning remember?' Stefan licked his lips. Klaus followed his tongue with his eyes. They had been apart several weeks, and Klaus was irritable because they had yet to reunite properly.

'I didn't jump into you feet first,' Klaus pointed out. 'As I recall, you jumped into me. Repeatedly.'

Damon made a noise of disgust and Marie shook her head. Faun, after almost a decade traveling over Europe with them, still blushed and scowled when Klaus made any kind of reference to their sex life.

'Nik, you're embarrassing our friends,' Stefan said. 

Klaus muttered something rude and Stefan rolled his eyes. 

'Okay, can we get this very uncomfortable meeting over with so you two can do whatever. Katherine has just left England for Boston,' Faun said. The night she hid herself and Stefan from Katherine and Mikael she stole a bracelet that Katherine had been wearing. Stefan had recalled giving it to her before Klaus arrived in Mystic Falls. At first Faun had intended to use it to find Katherine in the hopes that Katherine could save her from Klaus but she soon realized that Katherine was running from Klaus. She also realized she didn't need to be saved.

'We're not ready to follow her yet,' Stefan pointed out. 'Besides I found some new friends in the Black Forest.'

Klaus gave his lover a sharp look. 'What friends?'

'Well I didn't introduce myself, but I found out they live in a village there, and they're very secretive, and once a month they keep a terrible racket, first with the screaming and then the howling...'

'A pack?' Klaus asked.

Stefan nodded. 'A pack.'

'Well, I don't know about any of you but I'm bored listening to this - so I'm going to go anywhere,' Damon said. 

'Me too,' Faun said as she stood and followed her sister and Damon out of the room. 

'Good luck Stefan,' Damon called over his shoulder. 

Klaus smirked. 'Your brother seems to think that I'm going to ravish you.'

'He does, little does he know that it's you who's in for a treat,' Stefan growled as he backed Klaus from the sitting room to the bedroom and shoved him back. 'Get you clothes off.'

'Look at my boy taking control,' Klaus murmured proudly as he undressed as quickly as he could. Vampire speed wasn't allowed in the bedroom, not when Stefan was like this. Klaus loved it, loved the control Stefan held over him, the dark look Stefan gave him.

'Tell me about who you chose to feed on when we weren't together, who did you fancy Nik, who did you desire?' Stefan undid his jacket buttons slowly and shrugged it off.

'There was a young woman, redhead, with green eyes and a soft voice who was terrified and aroused by me,' Klaus said as Stefan's fingers reached for his ascot tie and slowly undid it. He tossed it to the side and started on his vest next. 

'You've stopped talking and undressing,' Stefan reminded him. Klaus smirked and reached for his shoes.

'I didn't kill her, but I did turn her,' Klaus gave Stefan a guilty look. 'She is divine Stefan, you're going to enjoy her company. She has a wicked sense of humor and her skills on the harp are the best I've heard in decades.'

'Is that all you enjoyed, her company and her music? Did you mount her?' Stefan asked as he shrugged out of his suspenders and reached for his shirt, tugging it from his pants to pull over his head.

'No, no I didn't mount her. I haven't mounted anyone else since 1864,' Klaus said. Stefan faltered.

'Not even when you left Mystic Falls, when we were apart for those months?' Stefan asked.

Klaus shook his head. 'I tried a few times, but I could barely kiss them without your face appearing in my mind,' Klaus said. 

Stefan finished stripping then grabbed Klaus' pants and pulled them off. Both gloriously naked, Stefan crawled over Klaus and dropped a gentle kiss on his lips. 

'We have been together twenty one years lover, and you've never took another,' Stefan tilted his head and brushed his lips along Klaus' jaw. 

'That surprises you?' Klaus asked as he buried his fingers in Stefan's thick hair. 

'Thrills me more like,' Stefan said as he nipped Klaus' earlobe. 'My Original Hybrid truly is mine.'

'Always,' Klaus said as he kept his throat bared in submission. 'Do you know why the werewolves you found didn't sense your presence?'

'I smell like you, I have a wolf in my bed and even a few weeks apart can't diminish the scent,' Stefan said. 

'That's right love,' Klaus pulled Stefan over his face to kiss him properly. Stefan let Klaus slip his tongue into Stefan's mouth and for a moment he submitted to the vampire below him, then he caught Klaus' wrists in one hand and took over the kiss. Klaus moaned and bucked his hips up to Stefan. Stefan ground down, meeting each of Klaus' movements with his own. 

'Can you come like this?' Stefan asked. 'Or do you want something else?'

'I want you to fuck me until I can't breathe,' Klaus said. 

'Keep your hands there, you can move them when I say you can,' Stefan warned. 'If you don't do as you're told I have those leather straps with the vervain sewn into them.'

'Maybe I want that,' Klaus said. Stefan regarded him for a moment, his bright eyes and full lips and his scruffy chin, and Klaus looked back, open, sincere, honest. 

'Okay,' Stefan slipped from the bed and a moment later returned with the straps. The vervain didn't actually touch the skin, so it didn't burn, but Stefan could feel the weakening effects it had on him as he wrapped Klaus' wrists. Klaus watched him with wide eyes, and Stefan marveled that this dangerous paranoid vampire who was almost nine hundred years old trusted him with this. It humbled Stefan, and he gave Klaus a tender kiss on the lips as a thank you. 'Now roll over.'

Klaus did as he was asked and rolled. He turned his head to the side and let Stefan loop his belt through the leather strap and attach it to the headboard. Then Stefan tested the bonds. 'Comfortable?'

'Weak,' Klaus murmured gently. 

'Good,' Stefan said. 'Trust me?'

'Always,' Klaus said. 

'Can you break them?' Stefan tapped him and Klaus lifted his hips so Stefan could slip two pillows beneath. He spread Klaus' thighs and gently moved Klaus' hard cock so it was between his legs. He couldn't resist a gentle kiss on Klaus' balls. Klaus gasped in surprise. 

'No,' Klaus said. Stefan could see his arms straining. 'They won't break.'

'And if you want out of them?' Stefan settled between Klaus' thighs and leaned close to his face. 

'I say my mothers name,' Klaus said. 

Stefan screwed his nose up but kissed Klaus on the neck. 'Good. Now tell me what you want.'

There was silence, and for a moment Stefan didn't think Klaus would answer. 'You, I want anything you want to give me.'

'Do you want the redhead vampire? Would you like that, to sink your cock into a slick hole?' Stefan nipped Klaus' ear. Klaus arched his back. 'I'd watch, in the corner, like we almost did in Paris, I'd watch you fuck her and then I'd fuck you. Would you like that sweetheart?'

'Yes,' Klaus buried his face in the sheets but Stefan turned his chin and kissed him gently. 

'I'd like that too, I'd like to watch you, I'd like to join you, I'd like you to watch me, if that's what you want,' Stefan said. 'Is that what you want?'

'Yes,' Klaus practically sobbed. 

'Good, then someday, we'll find a woman, and we'll do it, but for now, you're mine,' Stefan sank his fangs into the spot at the back of Klaus' neck. Klaus moaned and arched his hips up as Stefan took his blood. He lapped the closing wounds clean and then licked and sucked his way down over Klaus' back until he reached his ass. When he pulled Klaus' cheeks apart and licked over his hole Klaus cried out and pushed back onto Stefan's face. 

Stefan licked and sucked until Klaus was mewling and then he reared forward and reached for the jar of oil on the bedside table. He pressed two slick fingers into Klaus' hole and watched as Klaus arched and begged. 'No more, I want it tight,' Klaus said as he tried to look over his shoulder. 

Stefan removed his fingers and slicked his cock. 'If you want it tight then close your legs.'

It was awkward, straddling Klaus' hips and pushing his cock into Klaus' tight hole, but this was how Klaus wanted it, and as Stefan knew Klaus often said he couldn't deny Stefan anything, the same was true for Stefan. Denying Klaus was a betrayal of something basic and honest between them.

When Stefan was fully inside he relaxed and lay over Klaus, peppering kisses along his shoulders, neck and cheek. He had intended to be rough, to fuck Klaus until they were both raw but Klaus' weakness and vulnerability due to the leather strap had Stefan picking a different path. Soon resting on top of him wasn't enough, and Stefan pulled his hips back slightly before pushing forward. He kept his thrusts shallow, but he could tell each time be brushed his lovers prostate. The angle was perfect for Klaus, and Stefan grit his teeth and held back, gave Klaus what he needed. 

'I'm going to... I'm going to come,' Klaus panted into his arm. Stefan turned his head for an awkward kiss and Klaus cried out into his mouth as his ass clenched around Stefan's cock. Stefan snarled and fucked into Klaus as Klaus rode his orgasm, coming a few moments later. He collapsed in a heap, his half hard cock still inside Klaus. 

'Don't move, not yet,' Klaus said. Stefan rubbed his cheek on Klaus' hair. 

'Okay,' Stefan said. 

'Stay in me, fuck me again,' Klaus pleaded. 

'Give me a few minutes,' Stefan licked the hinge of Klaus' jaw. 

'Fuck me rough next time, make me feel it,' Klaus said. 

'Whatever you want lover,' Stefan was already planning it, resting on his knees and fucking into Klaus until the bed rocked. 

'I want you, always you,' Klaus murmured. Stefan kissed him again and let his hands slip under Klaus to feel as his heartbeat finally returned to normal. 

 

Stefan had a good plan, Klaus liked his plan, on the whole, but there were details he was uncomfortable with, such as Stefan's involvement. 

'Who says they'll attack me?' Stefan asked again. Klaus wanted to bang his head off the wall. It was the first time in twenty one years together that Klaus was tempted to compel his lover to just do as he was told. He knew Stefan would be furious at the thought, but he had discovered dishonesty was not the way with Stefan. Stefan hated secrets and compulsion - a result of Katherine's use and abuse of he and Damon.

'You're making me want to compel you to listen to me,' Klaus warned.

Stefan's eyes darkened. 'If you do that, you know I'll leave you.'

'I know, that's how seriously I'm taking this threat. Stefan, if a werewolf bites you then it's fatal to you. I don't want you to die, do you understand?' Klaus got up from his chair and paced the room. His hands were shaking so he squeezed them into fists in the hope that Stefan wouldn't notice.

'And if we meet them during the day and earn their trust then what reason do they have to bite me?' Stefan pointed out. 

'The shift, the pain, it changes most werewolves. They lose their mind, I did. I shifted once, Stefan, and I lost myself in the pain and the power. I had no mental control. I was the beast and nothing would stand in my way,' Klaus explained. He needed Stefan to understand the nature of the wolf, what they both could lose. 

'Okay I get it. Then I'll lock myself up at night, you chain me up, chain me to our bed,' Stefan's smile was saucy.

Klaus rested his head on the window frame and watched as Faun and Yvette lifted the little orphan boy they'd adopted into their arms. They were aging, and he expected they would soon be leaving him, returning to Corsica. Faun was Stefan's best friend and Klaus worried about how Stefan would fare without her. Lately he'd noticed the witch thirsting for stability, and while Stefan hadn't mentioned it, Klaus knew Stefan noticed as well. Stefan was only thirty nine if you counted his human years, twenty one of them a vampire by Klaus' side. 

'Immortal you may be but unlike me your immortality can be taken away. I'm just saying this because I care,' Klaus said.

'I care, I care enough to follow you all over Europe, to chase werewolf packs for you, Nik, let me do this, I'm more diplomatic than you, you know that, let me help you break this curse, I want it as much as you do,' Stefan slid his arms around Klaus and kissed his neck. 

Klaus leaned back into his lover and closed his eyes. 'You'll be my undoing,' Klaus sighed in defeat. 

'I love you,' Stefan brushed his nose along Klaus' skin.

They spent the next year or so in the Black Forest befriending the werewolf pack. They negotiated for weeks, and established a treaty that allowed the pack to maintain their own Alphas and in turn a selection of warriors would be at Klaus' disposal should he manage to break the curse. They warriors were loyal to Klaus, and were willing to join his entourage when next he moved. They made massive progress in an alliance of the species that had never been seen before. Klaus beamed in pride, not at the treaties, but at his Stefan who had worked tirelessly to establish strong futures for both of them. Stefan who cared enough to work to break the curse that had burdened Klaus all of his life, and in doing so making allies of their enemies. 

Stefan too was happy in Germany, he took the time to learn the language and enjoyed the local delicacies, and for a time there was peace, but all that was about to change.

 

Klaus was sketching by the firelight. The drapes were wide open letting the light of the moon into the room. Stefan lay back on the bed, naked, with a book in his hand. Stefan knew he was the subject of Klaus' interest, he could tell by the focused looks he was getting from his lover. He was Klaus' favorite subject and used to being sketched like this but the way he'd chosen to lie was quickly becoming uncomfortable. 

'Hey Nik, mind if I roll over?' Stefan said. He had a foot planted flat on the bed, his knee risen. His elbow rested on his knee and the book was held loosely between his fingers.

'Of course I mind, I'm getting a great view,' Klaus muttered without looking away from his sketch pad. 

'You've seen me like this for eight thousand nights, give or take,' Stefan said. 

Klaus looked up from his sketch pad. 'Did you really just count the amount of days since you've been turned?'

'I do it all the time,' Stefan admitted. 

Klaus nodded and smiled. He had once too, when he was a youngster like Stefan. 'Go back to your book, you can roll over soon and I'll maybe sketch that gorgeous arse of yours.'

'I'd rather you mount it,' Stefan muttered as he dropped his eyes back to his book. 

Klaus growled and Stefan bit his cheeks to keep from smiling. There was a howl outside the window and Klaus turned to look out. 'They've shifted then.'

Stefan hummed. He was lost in his pages when there was a scream. The fire had died down, and it was hours after the first howl. There was another scream, and then another and Stefan hurried to the window next to where Klaus stood peering into the darkness. 

'Do you know who it is?' Stefan asked as he reached for his pants.

'You can't go out there,' Klaus warned him as he dressed himself. 

'So I stand here and let people die?' Stefan snapped. 

Klaus sighed and nodded. 'There's no stopping you is there?'

The scene outside was carnage, but at least the wolves were away. The thick scent of blood hung in the air, so strong it forced Stefan's fangs to slip from his gums and the veins around his eyes to pulse. He hurried to where the bodies laid but they were mauled beyond saving. Stefan frowned as he examined them, and then his heart sank when he recognized Marie, Faun's sister and Damon's lover. 

'Nik,' Stefan whispered softly as Klaus peered over his shoulder. 'We have a problem.'

 

'I'll kill them,' Damon cried as Stefan tightened his arms. 

'Damon no,' Stefan said. 

'Stop protecting them - stop hiding them from me,' Damon said but Stefan was stronger. Damon had exhausted himself fighting his brother and eventually he slumped into Stefan's arms. 'I loved her.'

'I know you did,' Stefan stroked Damon's back. 'I know.'

When Klaus saw Faun arrive he sucked in a breath and slipped over to where Stefan was calming Damon down. 'You're tired,' he told Damon, compelling him for the first time since he met him. 'You're tired and you need your rest. Go to bed, and sleep until you are completely rested.'

Stefan watched as Damon walked away then turned to Klaus. 

'I suppose you're going to scold me,' Klaus said to his lover. 

'No, thank you, that was appropriate of you,' Stefan said. He squeezed Klaus' hand then went to where Faun was weeping over her sister. 

'Do you know why she was out?' Klaus asked her. He tugged a handkerchief from his pocket and for a brief second he thought of Elijah. 

'She was doing a fertility spell for a human couple in the village, they'd been trying for years to have a child and Marie decided to help them,' Faun said as she wiped her eyes.

Klaus watched Stefan close his eyes and sigh. With an awkward hand Klaus reached out to squeeze Stefan's shoulder. 

'I have to go home,' Faun said. 'I can barely look at the werewolves. I understand that they have no control, but I -' Faun collapsed into tears and Stefan pulled her into his chest and stroked her hair. Klaus swallowed and turned away from them. He made his way over to the elder meeting, but he already suspected he knew the outcome. Sure enough the elders had decided to leave. 

'It's not what we want,' one of Klaus' warriors, Gertrude, explained. 'But we must leave now. We made an agreement with the few humans who know of our existence They keep our secret as long as we don't attack humans. There was a human girl who had followed Marie into the woods.'

Klaus nodded. He would never forget the dead weight of Henrik in his arms as he carried him home. That weight was still on Klaus' soul, one of only a handful of deaths he would never forgive himself for. 

'Some of us will stay, a few of us too old or tired to move on, but most will leave,' Gertrude shook her head. 

'Allow me to help,' Klaus said. 'Why don't you make your way to America, I'll assist you in any way that I can.'

'That's generous, I'll take it to the elders, we'll consider your request,' she said. 

Klaus walked home alone, his mind lost in thought. He took a seat on one of the stone benches outside the home he shared with Stefan not ready to go inside. A few minutes later Stefan joined him. 

'This was our fault,' Stefan said.

'No love, it wasn't. It was a full moon, they knew the risks,' Klaus explained gently. Stefan shook his head, and Klaus knew there was no talking Stefan out of the burden of this guilt today.

'Faun is leaving,' Stefan said after a long pause. 'She has a gift for us.'

'What is it?' Klaus asked. 

Stefan shrugged. 'She wants to meet us tonight.'

It was almost midnight by the time they arrived in the clearing. Faun knelt next to a stone bowl and Yvette laid out two strips of cloth. 

Klaus watched patiently until she looked up. 'I've created an unbreakable spell. A bond. I know how much you both mean to each other, but there will be times your love and bond will be tested. You both gave me the greatest gift, love. I love Yvette and will be with her for eternity, but you're both cursed to live forever.' 

Faun unfolded the cloth. Two small pebbles, no larger than Klaus' thumbnail, lay in the middle. There were carvings and markings on them that he didn't recognize. 

'When was the last time you blood shared?' Faun asked. 

'It's been a few months,' Stefan admitted. 

'You will need to. Now,' Faun said. 

'Faun blood sharing is intimate, and it weakens us,' Klaus said. 

'Trust me,' Faun said. 'And not just a sip. I want Stefan's blood in your body, I want you sustaining Stefan.'

Klaus looked around the clearing but Faun nodded encouragingly at him. The shimmer of a spell domed over them; they were safe. 

With a smile Klaus turned to Stefan and kissed him, gentle at first. Stefan arched into the kiss as his fingers worked to remove Klaus' jacket and shirt. Stefan shivered as Klaus eased his shirt off and his nipples hardened in the cool night air. Had they been alone Klaus would have given them the attention they deserved. Soon they were pressed chest to chest. Stefan dragged his fangs over the junction of Klaus' neck and shoulder, and Klaus fit his teeth on Stefan. 

'Comfortable?' He murmured. 

'Yes,' Stefan whispered. 

They bit together, and at first only the taste of blood coated Klaus' mouth but then, like a flood, Stefan's feelings and memories slammed into him. It was blissfully painful, and he ground against the sudden erection in Stefan's pants. Love and sorrow wrapped itself around Klaus. He was intoxicated by it. Never had he felt this way about anyone before, and he probably never would again. 

When Klaus opened his eyes they were on the ground, and he had no idea how he got there. Stefan was on top of him licking the already healed wound. Klaus didn't speak, words weren't necessary, so he brushed his thumbs over Stefan's cheeks.

'Here,' Faun startled Klaus. He had forgotten they had an audience. They sat up together both watching the witch. She took Stefan's hand first and sliced the knife across his palm. She did the same to Klaus a moment later. Klaus watched their blood swirl in the bowl. 

Stefan grunted and leaned heavily into his chest. 'You still with me?' Klaus murmured into Stefan's hair. 

'I am,' Stefan said. 

'I'm sorry,' Faun said. She placed the stones in the bowl and Klaus watched a tiny red flame dance across their blood for a moment. Then the blood disappeared into the stones. 

She reached for Stefan's left hand first and turned it over. Where the skin was thin and smooth she used the knife to slice him open. Stefan hissed and Faun lifted one of the stones. She placed it under the skin and said an incantation. The skin healed before their eyes. 

'Your turn Klaus,' she said. Klaus reached out his left hand and ignored the pain of the knife. The stone was hot when Faun placed it, and he could already feel Stefan's heartbeat through it. 

'Oh,' Stefan breathed. 

'That stone cannot be removed,' Faun said. She handed each of them a copy of the spell. 

'You married us,' Stefan said with a soft smile. 

'I suppose you could say that,' Faun said. 'Now go make love and blood share and make these moments special and intimate and treasure them.' 

They hugged Faun and Yvette, gathered their things up and with their hands locked together walked home.


	2. Chapter 2

Stefan rested his hands on the railing as the ship rolled across the relatively calm waters of the English channel. He could hear the wet sounds of Damon feeding behind him, and he resisted the urge to turn around and watch. 

He missed Klaus, but he had to leave. Rosetta's daughter, they had been informed, was in London. Stefan couldn't resist the urge to travel there and check up on the girl himself, and he needed to get Damon away from the werewolves or a war would break out. Klaus needed to stay and tidy a few things before he joined them in London. 

'Don't kill him brother,' Stefan said but Damon didn't release the man, not right away. Stefan turned and raised his eyebrows and Damon eventually let go and wiped his mouth. Stefan healed the man and watched him stagger away. He'd likely be suspected of being drunk and put to bed. 

It was strange, just the two of them, but Stefan liked getting to spend time with Damon. For the past fifteen years or so they had traveled in groups. It was quieter without Klaus but at least Stefan knew Klaus would catch up. In all likelihood he would never see Faun again. Her absence was heavy, and he hoped time would heal the gap she left behind.

'What shall we do in London brother,' Damon said. He was drunk and high from blood. 

'We shall live a life of alcohol and debauchery,' Stefan suggested with a tight smile.

Damon chuckled and leaned his forearms on the railings. 'Perhaps we should abandon London, go in search of Katherine,' Damon said. 

'What do you want with Katherine?' Stefan asked. 

'This is her fault, neither of us would be vampires if it wasn't for her,' Damon said with a roll of his hand. 

His brother had a point, Stefan admitted, and he was angry. Revenge, if it could not be sought on the werewolves, would be sought on Damon's maker then. 

'Why don't we forget revenge for a while Damon,' Stefan suggested. 

'I can't, because if I don't have revenge, do you know what there is? Do you?' Damon snarled. His eyes were wide as he glared into Stefan's.

'What, what is there Damon?' Stefan asked. He made sure to keep him voice calm and steady. On the edge of his vision he spotted someone watching them and it made the hairs on the back of his neck bristle. 

'Nothing, without revenge I have nothing,' Damon spat. He turned his sights back to the ocean. 

'You have me,' Stefan said. 

Damon snorted. 'Yes, I'm the brother of the man that the Original Hybrid is in love with.' 

'Keep your voice down,' Stefan looked around them but their audience was gone. 'And no, that's not just what you are. You're important to me and to Klaus too, and you know something, I don't think Marie would appreciate this self suffering mood you're buried deep inside of.'

Damon sighed and looked down at his hands. 'I have nothing.' Damon repeated. 'I'm lost.'

'Then lets find you something to live for,' Stefan said. Damon turned to smile at Stefan but it didn't reach his eyes. 

They arrived in London a day later by carriage and Stefan found them a home that would be fit for Klaus. It was a sprawling mansion with good access to Hyde Park and all the fashionable places the city had to offer. Stefan hated how cold and vast it was. 

'Now you have your pick of beautiful ladies,' Stefan said as they peered out the window. 'Or gentlemen if you prefer.'

Damon turned to look at Stefan then turned back to the window. Stefan left him to his gazing after a while, he had business to attend to in the city for Klaus and it wouldn't do to be late. When he returned Damon was no place to be found. 

 

Stefan spent his days people watching. London was a fascinating place full of wonders and inventions and light. Society had rules for its rules and the people enthralled Stefan. There was art, theater and music, and he found engagements every evening with enough entertainment to distract him until dawn.

He also traveled to the slums, where the poor lived hand to mouth. Stefan often hired anyone he needed from here, handing them a coin and compelling the memory of his presence away. These people would update him on Cece, Rosetta's daughter. It was here when Stefan felt it again, eyes on his back. He wasn't the only person doing the watching, someone was tracking him and it wasn't Klaus. 

As time passed Stefan learned to keep to the shadows of society, of someplace between where few were able to tread. He was on the edge of the docks in a gambling hall having just received an update on Cece. He liked these places, no one asked questions for they didn't care to know the answer. 

It was in one of these halls where he found Damon. 'Its been three months since I saw you brother,' Stefan said as he sat next to Damon at an empty card table. 

'Well I figured I'd try for some independence for a change, invest some of the money I've gathered over the years,' Damon shrugged as he split the deck of cards. His hand trembled, and Stefan wondered when he'd last been sober.

'Uh huh,' Stefan said as he eyed the wad of bills in Damon's pocket. 

'I bought three cargo ships,' Damon shrugged and Stefan rolled his eyes. 'I hear Klaus is still in Europe.'

'He's expected in London soon,' Stefan said. 'He stayed with the pack longer than he intended to help organize their travel to America. I believe they're heading to New Orleans.'

'Oh how I miss her,' Damon sighed wistfully. 'New Orleans.'

Stefan decided he would leave his gambling hall early tonight. Damon's mood was good and the streak of murders Stefan had been keeping abreast of had dwindled.

They walked through dark streets together and it felt like the first nights after Damon found him in New Orleans. 'I think London smells worse than anywhere we've been.' Damon said. 

'Venice,' Stefan screwed his nose up and Damon chuckled. 

'You did hate it there,' he recalled and Stefan smiled. 

'Let's get a drink, a proper drink, together brother,' Stefan suggested.

Damon grinned and they spent the next hour searching for their perfect victim. They found her in the form of a middle aged woman who looked well to do as she marched through London's streets and out towards Kensington. 

'Well hello,' Damon said as she turned the corner. 

She startled for a moment, but something about Damon had her interest piqued. 

'Are you one of these men who sell their bodies to rich and lonely women,' she asked with a husky voice. 

Damon licked his lips and looked over her shoulder at Stefan. 'I could be,' he said. 

'I can't take you home, my husband is there,' she murmured. Stefan gave a nod to Damon as he backed away and left his brother to his pleasure. He would feed from one of the servant girls.

When he arrived home it looked different, there were lights in the windows and the faint sounds of movement came from the bedrooms. Stefan went cautiously, slipping inside and making his way upstairs. He had entered the master suite when he was pinned against the wall, the thump so hard that he heard plaster crack behind his skull and a plume of dust fell from the ceiling. 

'I thought I taught you better than to occupy a house that belonged to no one,' a warm voice snarled. Stefan could almost taste the blood on Klaus' breath.

Stefan licked his lips. 'But if I did that then you wouldn't be able to do this,' he said as he felt Klaus open his trousers roughly and yank them down around his thighs. The room was dark despite the lamp on the bedside table, and Stefan could see only the slight glow of Klaus' eyes. He leaned in for a kiss but Klaus leaned away. 

Instead Stefan was twisted and flipped to face the wall, and his cheek rested against the large crack that had formed. Two slick fingers pressed against Stefan's hole and he arched his back and tried to spread his legs as much as his pants would allow to give Klaus better access. Klaus, it seemed, was short of patience, because Stefan got the bare minimum of preparation and a mouth to the neck and then Klaus was fucking him through the wall. 

Stefan panted and pleaded and kept his hands on the wall as Klaus slammed into his hips again and again. With a rough hand Klaus reached around him and it only took a few jerks of his fist before Stefan was coming. Klaus followed a moment later with a deep grunt and a bite to the shoulder. 

'You know there's a perfectly good bed over there,' Stefan said as he caught his breath. 

'I'm aware of that, get naked and get on it,' Klaus said as he stepped back. Stefan turned and caught him for a kiss as he guided them both back to the massive bed. They fell on in in a mess of limbs and half removed clothes. Klaus laughed when they got tangled up, but when Stefan's notebook fell from his pocket they both paused. The mood tightened as they stared, both thinking the same thing. Eventually Klaus reached for it and he watched Klaus flip it open. 'Two more names.'

Stefan nodded. Something curled in his gut. He caught a man raping a prostitute, and had snapped his neck. He did the same to the policeman who stood watching with his hand in his pants. 

'You'll have to tell me about them, as I have several letters to tell you about,' Klaus said. Stefan shoved the notebook away and caught Klaus' lips in a hot kiss, their kills forgotten for now.

 

'They're calling him Jack the Ripper,' Stefan said as he read the newspaper. 

Klaus grunted and carried on with his breakfast. The girl on his lap sighed in pleasure as Klaus bit into her neck again, then pulled his lips away. 'Do you think its a vampire?'

'No, he's harvesting organs,' Stefan said from behind the newspaper. 'He prefers prostitutes.'

'More than likely its some sort of witch collecting supplies for a spell,' Klaus said. 'I don't like it.'

'Neither do I, perhaps we should go looking for him,' Stefan set the paper aside and took a long drink of his coffee. He had been in London almost two years, and this was the worst non vampire related murder's he'd seen. 

'A proper hunt, now there's something we haven't had since we were in Northern Italy,' Klaus smiled to himself and imagined sinking his teeth into the flesh of someone who deserved it. His breakfast shifted on his lap, and he could smell her arousal. Stefan could too, if the pointedly raised eyebrow was anything to go by.

'It is, but I also need to check in on Cece,' Stefan said.

'Well I have to visit the bank, Rebekah's recent visit and shopping trips have draining our account more than I'm comfortable with and I need to replenish it. I also expect that she left several bills around the city for me,' Klaus said as he got up. He set the girl from his lap onto her feet and she turned to Stefan. Klaus watched as Stefan's eyes flicked between the pulse of her wrist and the one beating in her throat, but finally they settled on her wrist.

'I thought that she had her own money,' Stefan said as he took her hand in his. Klaus leaned down and pecked him on the lips. 

'Oh she has but you know Rebekah, she enjoys the fact that as a woman, the men in the family should take care of her,' Klaus said with an exaggerated roll of the eye.

'Good luck to Kol then,' Stefan murmured. 'If you wait we can go together into the city.'

Klaus nodded. Stefan bit the girl, then healed her and sent her for some food and sleep.

Together they headed out on foot. They passed a worse for wear Damon with a big grin as they left the house and Stefan rolled his eyes.

Stefan found Cece easily. She was in the park, kneeling next to a pond and writing in a journal. She stayed there for almost an hour before she got up, and before Stefan's eyes she bumped into a handsome young man with dark hair and a smooth jaw. 

They hit it off instantly, and after another hour or so Stefan was comfortable leaving Cece with her new friend. As he walked away he noticed his own shadow was following him and he made sure to take a winding path through the streets as he made his way to Klaus.

 

Klaus knelt in the shadows, with Stefan close behind him. Stefan's knuckles rested on the small of Klaus' back, letting Klaus know he was still there. They didn't speak, they didn't need to. They were watching Millers Court, and early in the morning a well to do man opened a door wide enough for the stench of blood and gore to reach Klaus' nose. They had arrived too late, the woman was already dead but they followed the man as he hurried a short distance and stepped into a waiting carriage. 

Twenty minutes later they pulled up at a grand house and the man exited and headed inside. Stefan slipped around Klaus and staggered up to the door. The maid that opened it looked horrified to find a drunk American on the doorstep, and soon a smart dressed woman was there. Stefan glanced up at her and Klaus could tell the moment she'd been compelled. As Stefan stepped over the threshold Klaus joined him. 

'Too easy?' Klaus asked but Stefan shrugged. 

'She wasn't suspicious,' he admitted as he roamed freely, the lady and maid sent to sit quietly in the parlor until Stefan and Klaus left. 

They found a man in the basement with blood and organs about him. He was chanting something and there were corpses of birds and vermin in jars and bowls. 'Dark magic,' Stefan mouthed. 

Klaus watched as the witch bathed a blade in blood then held it into the flame. Back to the blood it went, and then back into the flame. It reminded Klaus of a blacksmith forging a sword, from water to fire. 

Klaus wondered what the blade did, it was glowing red by the time the witch had finished his spell and Klaus knew the blood had somehow infused with the blade. 

'I don't typically enjoy an audience when I work,' the man called. Klaus didn't recognize him at all, and every fiber in his body told him to run, but he knew the murders were building to some larger more complicated spell and Klaus didn't like when he didn't know what was going on. 

'What kind of magic do you practice?' Stefan asked as he stepped forward. Klaus hung back in the shadows, doing the dance they'd done countless times before. These days they barely discussed plans, they just knew their roles.

'There are many forms of magic,' the man said. Stefan moved slowly, but he didn't get too close. Good. 'I learned this in Africa.'

Stefan screamed and fell to his knees, but Klaus held back, biding his time. It was agony, watching Stefan hurt but the spell lifted, and Stefan staggered back to his feet. 

'So you're well traveled, I'm pleased for you,' Stefan panted. 

The man turned to Stefan then. He was stout and balding and he was missing his left eye. A long scar ran from the empty eye socket to his jaw. Stefan slipped his hands into his pockets and dropped his neck slightly. He was getting ready to pounce. 

'I don't like vampires,' he snarled. 'I don't like werewolves either. I don't particularly like humans.'

'What do you like?' Stefan asked. 

His smile was grotesque but to his credit Stefan didn't flinch or look away. 

'Blood,' he said. He wiped his hands over his face and down around his throat. 'I've only killed five, I have another seven to go before this becomes one of the most deadly weapons in the world. It's not even at half power, it can't kill you but it will still hurt when I do this!'

Stefan screamed again, and he kept screaming as the man twisted the knife. He didn't even see Klaus pounce from the shadows until he was on his back. Stefan pulled the blade out and dropped in onto the floor. 

'Why are you building a weapon such as that?' Klaus snarled. 

'To kill that vampire bitch,' he snarled. 'The blond one, the sister of the Hybrid, I'll lure him from his den.'

'And what do you want with him?' Klaus asked as he dragged the knife down the mans scar. The man cried out as the scar reopened. 

'I want his toxins, his venom, his blood, with the Hybrid in a cage. I can build myself an army, and I'll wipe out vampires and werewolves once and for all,' he said. 

'Well I'm sorry you'll never get to do that,' Klaus warned but he didn't get to finish. 

Suddenly pain like he'd never felt filled his head. This was worse than any punishment a witch had doled out before. Klaus grabbed his head to try and shield himself from the agony and then suddenly it stopped. 

'Where is he?' Klaus gasped as he sat up and looked around the room. 

'Don't know,' Stefan muttered as he held a hand out to Klaus. Klaus took it and let Stefan pull him up. 'Nice guy,' Stefan wiped his hands on the legs of his pants and took the knife from Klaus. 'This is a mean little bastard.'

'We'll get it put someplace safe,' Klaus promised as he started to search the tabletops. 'Are you okay?'

'No, actually, its taking a long time to heal,' Stefan lifted his shirt and looked at the still oozing wound. 

Klaus ran his fingers over it and brought them to his nose. 'It smells funny.'

'It's not poison, I'm healing, I can feel it, just, slower,' Stefan said. 'How did he know about you?'

Klaus shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. They spent the morning talking to everyone involved in the house but they all said the same thing, the witch spent all of his time in the basement, and he rarely talked to any of them. He took no visitors that they knew of. 

'What about the woman Mummy?' Had it not been for his supernatural hearing Klaus wouldn't have known the child existed, but he followed her heartbeat and found her in a back room among pages of drawings. The mother looked startled but Stefan took her by the hand and reassured her that the child was safe. 

'Hello,' Klaus said as he sat down. 

'You're a vampire,' the little girl said. 

'How do you know that?' Klaus asked. He could hear Stefan hovering behind him in the doorway. 

'Because I can always tell, so is he but you're not the same,' she said. She was drawing on a page and she had yet to look at either of them. 

'Was the woman a vampire too?' Klaus asked. 

'Oh yes, she was very beautiful and very kind, she gave me gifts and asked me questions,' the child said. 

Klaus took a sheet and started to sketch something out. 

'What was her name?' Klaus asked gently. 

'I don't know. She had pretty red hair and a lovely voice,' she said. 

'What did she ask you sweetheart?' Stefan wondered.

'She wanted to know when she would die, but I couldn't tell her because it happens all the time,' the little girl said. 

'Do you have a name?' Klaus tilted his head. 

'They call me Bethany but that's not my real name, its Bathilda,' Bethany said. 'I can't see your death either, but you killed him and you will again, but he won't die.'

'Killed who?' Klaus asked. 

'Him. By the door. I don't know his name but he's very pretty. I hope I marry someone as nice as him,' there was a lilt to her voice, Welsh, Klaus suspected. 

Klaus looked back at Stefan and they merely blinked at each other. 'Do you see how he kills me?' Stefan asked. 

'The same way as the first time,' Bethany said. 'Its not to hurt you but to save you.'

'What else can you see?' Klaus asked her. He didn't like this child, she made him want to leave and never return. 

'Your children,' she said. 'But they wont be around for a long time. You have lots of different kinds of children and I can see them all.'

Klaus examined her closely, the lace of her dress was high on her throat, and her lank hair fell over her eyes. She needed some sunlight and fresh air, and some decent food. 

'Can you tell us anything else?' Klaus asked. 

'Only what you want me to tell you and you don't know what you want to ask me yet, but that's okay, you'll probably see me again before I die,' she said softly. 

'Well I'm glad to hear that,' Stefan said. 

'She won't be born until 1994, and she'll be a direct descendant of Cece,' the child said. 

'What?' Stefan said. Klaus was watching her closely. 

'The person you're looking for, she won't be born until 1994, but you just have to keep Cece's children safe. Who's Cece?' She looked up then and her eyes were a deep brown. Klaus smiled at her.

'Cece is a little girl we used to know once,' Klaus said as he passed the drawing he'd done over to her. She smiled at the picture of the cat and turned to where a similar one sat by the window watching them. 

'Thank you,' she whispered and Klaus got up. 

They left the house and headed home, each deep in their own thoughts with a lot to analyze. 

 

Stefan loved Hyde park, especially after rainfall. It was so refreshing to breath in the damp air as he walked. Right now it was damp, but there were still visitors enjoying their Sunday afternoon. 

Stefan had just stopped to watch a magician preform tricks for children when he heard footsteps approach. 

'I recognize you,' a heavily accented voice said. Stefan turned and found Rosetta, Katherine's doppelgänger, looking at him. 'You haven't aged a day in fifteen years.'

'You recognize me?' Stefan was shocked, they'd only met once, and talked for a few hours one afternoon, the afternoon he told Klaus of his plan. 

'How could I forget this face,' she said lifting her gloved hand to his cheek. If felt natural, right to be touched by her and Stefan tilted his head into her warmth. 'It's the most beautiful face I've ever seen.'

'I'm shocked that you remember,' Stefan said. Something was catching his emotions, perhaps it was Rosetta and the friendliness she showed him. Perhaps it was more.

'As am I, I look my age, I'm forty, but you still knew who I was,' Rosetta said. Stefan examined the lines on her face. There was tiredness in her eyes and strings of silver in her tightly bound hair. She looked healthy for her age. 'You're a vampire, aren't you.'

'I- yes, yes I am,' Stefan sighed. Rosetta nodded in understanding. 

'I thought as much,' she said. 

'You know about vampires,' Stefan said as he joined her. He had been following Cece in Hyde Park, he didn't expect to encounter her mother. 

'I do. As a child it was only my mother and I. She came from a small family, I'm the only descendant as far as I know. She told me of a terrible monster who slaughtered my whole family hundreds of years before just to get revenge on one girl,' Rosetta said as she slipped her arm through Stefan's. 

Klaus, Stefan realized. She was talking about Klaus. Klaus had told him of course, but how could Stefan be angry for past savagery, there was nothing he could do to change it. He accepted that Klaus was a monster, had the potential to be again. Perhaps that reputation kept them safe. Perhaps, one day, it would be their downfall.

'You're in London for your daughters wedding?' Stefan asked hoping to change the subject. 

'I am, my Cece is a grown woman, but you kept an eye on her didn't you,' Rosetta said. 

'I did,' Stefan nodded. Now was not the time to lie, not when he was caught following her so blatantly.

'She's for Boston soon. I'll never look upon her face again,' Rosetta said. Her eyes grew dark and she looked away from where they stood.

'I don't believe that,' Stefan said. 'You could join her.'

'Oh I could but getting here was troublesome enough. We're not a monied family you see,' Rosetta said softly. 

'I understand,' Stefan said. 

'My husband died, and my boys died, so Cece is all I have left, her memory will be a treasure for me always,' Rosetta smiled faintly. 'And now I must take my leave for Cece is waiting for me.'

'Good luck,' Stefan said. 

He left the family to bond and walked home. Klaus was reading when he entered the drawing room, and Stefan sat beside him. 

There was a long pause, and Stefan caressed the stone in his wrist. Klaus looked down at his hands then up at his face. Stefan gave him a tight smile, and Klaus returned to his book. 

'Do what you must,' Klaus sighed. 

Stefan pressed a kiss to Klaus' cheek and got up from where he sat. He headed straight back out into the late morning sunshine. 

That night he sent a runner to Rosetta with a ticket to join her daughter in Boston. 

'You're soft,' Klaus said as he sat next to Stefan and squeezed his thigh. He rested his head on Klaus' shoulder as a weight chewed at his chest. He had just done a marvelously generous thing for a family he barely knew, but why did he feel so rotten? Perhaps because one day part of Rosetta's family would once again die at Klaus' hands, but it was to free him from his curse, it was the right thing, wasn't it?

'So what if I am?' Stefan asked. 

'I like it,' Klaus murmured as he kissed Stefan. 

'They're going to Boston,' Stefan said, trying desperately to forget his revelation, but it was useless, it had lodged itself deep inside him and wasn't for letting go. They had to find another way other than killing the girl, there had to be something. He remembered Faun saying something about a dream warning them that the blood of the doppelgänger was significant somehow. Stefan made a note to find a witch he could trust to research the spell.

'Then to Boston we will go,' Klaus said. 

Stefan shifted uncomfortably, and nodded. Klaus could easily back out of their agreement, he could see Rosetta and decide that he would take her life to relieve him of his curse. Stefan turned to him and smiled. 'It will be suspicious if we join them on the same ship, let us follow them.'

'And what shall we do until then?' Klaus murmured and ran his thumb over Stefan's smooth jaw before he kissed him slow and sensual.


	3. Chapter 3

Stefan liked Boston, it was cooler, brighter than London somehow, and there was so much to explore about it. He could walk around for hours, delve in and out of bookshops and dream of someplace else. Boston, to Stefan was freedom. So naturally it was the city where he first put pen to paper, and for once, not to journal. 

The novel started out loose, a woman who wished to see the world before she died. Klaus often referred to it as the Ode to Faun, and Stefan smiled as he recalled his old friend. He wondered if she was happy on Corsica with her family, with Yvette and the boys they'd adopted from the orphanage in Germany. 

And of course they were following the Petrova line. He made sure to avoid Rosetta, Cece and her family. Klaus ensured their safety with two of his loyal werewolf followers and another two vampires. They got regular reports, a child was born within a year.

'I think we'll settle here for a time,' Klaus said as he and Damon entered the house. 'My lover seems to be enjoying the place.'

'Your lover is listening,' Stefan called. 

'Aren't you bored of each other after a quarter of a century?' Damon asked as he nudged Stefan at his desk on his way to the bourbon decanter. Klaus bent for a welcome home kiss and then accepted a glass from Damon. 

'Klaus keeps life interesting,' Stefan admitted as he sipped the bourbon he was given and opened his notebook. 'What have you two been up to?' 

Klaus shrugged and Damon muttered something unintelligible. Their friendship made Stefan uneasy. Together they were impulsive, dangerous even. Restraint was an affliction neither of them suffered. Sometime Stefan envied them, but most times he just worried about what he would read in the paper. 

'We were hunting,' Klaus admitted eventually. He was leaning against Stefan's writing desk and looking thoughtfully out the window. 'Look at that sky. I expect that soon it will rain.'

'He's changing the subject to the weather little brother, perhaps he doesn't want to share,' Damon teased. 

Flashes of lightening lit the room. 'What were you hunting?' Stefan ignored his brother. 

Damon shrugged. 'Whatever you think is following you,' he swirled his glass. 

Stefan nodded. He was unable to shake the feeling, he'd suffered it for years now, since they left the Black Forest. He didn't like it and he wished to be free of the burden. Klaus had been furious that Stefan had waited so long to admit his fears, but Stefan had worried that his lovers paranoia was rubbing off on him. 'And did you have any luck.'

'Just a vampire who evaded us,' Klaus looked ashamed. 

'Oh,' Stefan went back to his book, but he was in no mood to write anymore. 

Bored, Damon took himself off and Klaus settled into one corner of the love seat. Stefan joined him and reached over the book, his second draft. Klaus read in silence, occasionally making notes in the margin. Stefan watched the rain, and when it was almost dark a knock came to the front door. 

'Telegram for Stefan Salvatore sir,' the boy said as he adjusted his soaking cap. Stefan was tempted to bring him inside but he was probably safer in the rain than inside the house. Stefan handed him a coin and took the envelope, sending him on his way. 

'What is it?' Klaus asked from the doorway. 

'My father is dead,' Stefan turned and handed Klaus the telegram. Klaus reached out and squeezed Stefan's shoulder. Stefan smiled at him and went back to his place on the love seat to continue watching the rain. 

 

'I heard a nasty rumor today love,' Klaus said as he slid across the bed to where Stefan lay. He rested his head on Stefan's shoulder and slid his hand over Stefan's flat belly to the dark trail of hair. 

'Oh yeah?' Stefan turned his head and rested his cheek on Klaus' hair. Klaus scraped his fingers over the thin skin of Stefan's hips. 

'Do you recall Jack the Ripper?' Klaus asked. 'Well he's here, supposedly, in Boston, hiding out in a basement someplace, gone insane.' Klaus spoke slow, and Stefan mused at how well he would do in the theater. 

'Was he sane when we came across him?' Stefan murmured. 

Klaus hummed to himself. 'Apparently his mistress was upset with him and punished him terribly,' Klaus cupped his hand around Stefan's thigh and pulled it closer to him. He hooked a leg over Stefan's.

'So an enemy who wants to kill you is here in Boston and you want to mount me?' Stefan half sat up. 

'Well she can hardly kill me, what else is there to do?' Klaus smirked.

'She could end Damon's life, or one of your werewolves, or Rosetta's or Cece's or-' 

'Yours. She could end yours,' Klaus frowned. 

'Well mine isn't so important at the minute,' Stefan said.

Klaus snarled and pinned him down. 'Don't you dare say that, your life is the most important life to me.'

'To you, but not to me,' Stefan said. 

Klaus frowned and searched his eyes. Stefan regretted his words but Klaus was looking at him differently. Stefan wished he would stop, he wished it would all stop. 'I love you.'

'And I love you,' Stefan said instantly, more on instinct, although it wasn't a lie. He did love Klaus, more than he could ever love himself.

'If you loved me you'd value yourself as I value you,' Klaus touched his hair. 

'If you loved me then you'd respect your enemies and the threat's they pose to not just you but those whom you value,' Stefan said. 

Klaus rolled off him and sat up. Stefan wanted to caress his back but he didn't. He sat up next to him and folded his arms over his knees. 

'We should leave here,' Klaus said. 'Distract whomever is hellbent on finding and hurting us away from Cece.'

Stefan nodded. He didn't want to leave but he would follow Klaus as his lover wished. He caressed the small lump in his wrist, and noticed Klaus doing the same. 

'Or I could just find this bitch and kill her,' Klaus muttered. 

'Will that solve your problem?' Stefan asked reasonably.

'I'm sick of running, I'm sick of fear!' Klaus snarled. 'If it's not some witch its angry werewolves or Mikael.'

'Yet run we must, because you've made enemies,' Stefan said. 

'And so what of it, I made enemies to protect myself and my siblings,' Klaus snapped. 'But Mikael, he chose to abuse me and torture me. I made no enemy of him through any action other than being born.'

'Hey calm down Nik,' Stefan squeezed his arm but Klaus shrugged him off and got out of bed. He paced the floor and tugged at his hair. Stefan watched him for a moment before he got up and blocked Klaus' path. 

'If anyone hurt you, took you from me...' Klaus sighed and Stefan wrapped him in a hug. 

'Don't torture yourself love,' Stefan pressed a kiss to his cheek. 

Klaus nodded. 'I should start making plans.'

'Wait until morning, perhaps by then you'll have another solution.'

 

Stefan had smiled when he received the envelope, but as soon as he recognized Yvette's writing and not Faun's something uneasy settled deep in his gut. He opened it carefully and read slowly. 

He read it again, and again, and when he could bare it no more he looked up at the sky. It was a beautiful warm day, the sun shone above him and children played on the green across from their redbrick townhouse. 

He recalled distinctly that when he found out about Giuseppe's death it had been a terrible day, rain and lighting. He had ached for his father, but Klaus had passed no more than an obligatory sympathy kiss to the cheek, and Damon had cared little for the man he loathed. Stefan however had cared deeply for his father, missed him every day. Yes Giuseppe's attitude and actions had chased Stefan from Mystic Falls to first save and then be with his lover, but he was still Stefan's father, and despite the beatings he received as a child, Giuseppe still loved him in his own twisted way. He had secured him a position with Klaus after all. Had it not been for Giuseppe then he never would have fallen for Klaus. 

Today though, it seemed like a betrayal. Faun was nothing but good and pure and kind. She had helped Stefan, just as Stefan had helped her. She had given him many generous and thoughtful gifts, including the stone in his wrist, a constant link forever to Klaus. He looked up at the sunshine and cursed it, wished for rain that would not come, not today, and then, when he could bare it no longer, he folded the envelope into his pocket and walked to town. 

The bar was dark and cheap, but no one looked twice at Stefan as he laid a generous handful of coins on the bar and took the bottle to a small table in the corner. Faun would be furious at him for drinking to excess, his father too. Stefan didn't care, he needed the burn, he needed to forget both of them, but the more he drank the more he remembered moments that would never leave his mind. 

'Are you lonely lad,' a sweet Irish voice said. Her body was warm and heavy on his lap as she sat down and stroked his face. 

'No,' Stefan said. She smiled at him and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. 

'Come on, I'll help ye forget whatever's bothering ye,' she promised. Stefan found himself following her to the back room of the bar where several more women sat watching them. They weren't prostitutes, she didn't have that scent. They were thieves intent on robbing him, but Stefan just caught her waist and smiled. 

'Nobody scream now,' he told the room. They all nodded in understanding and Stefan sank his teeth into the Irish woman's neck. As he drank he watched her reach for the cross around her neck and he thought her actions futile. Her god didn't exist and wouldn't be saving her tonight.

 

Stefan closed his eyes and hauled the woman's body closer. At first she struggled, but the more he took, the more pliant she became. Stefan pulled away and tipped his head back, enjoying the taste of the blood. The woman didn't move and Stefan turned his face to her. Blank eyes met his, she was dead. 

With a start Stefan dropped her and stepped away. More bodies lay around him, and Stefan could hear their heartbeats if he listened carefully, all save for the young woman who lay in a crumpled heap at his feet. 

This hadn't happened in twenty seven years, Stefan hadn't lost himself to the kill in a long time. He gasped in horror at what he had done, and then with a cry he launched himself to his knees ripping into his wrist and feeding the others as they lay. By the time he got to the last one she was dying, gasping for breath. It was the same woman who had sat on his lap in the bar, who had gripped her cross when he fed on her. Stefan pushed his wrist against her lips but she stared up at him, eyes wide and frightened as the blood ran over her face.

'No, no drink, drink, you have to drink you have to-'

'Stefan, what's going on?' Klaus asked as he stepped into the room. 

In his arms the woman gasped her last breath. 

'No, no no no no no,' Stefan cried as he opened her jaw and pushed his wrist against her mouth. 

'Stefan,' Klaus caught him by the shoulders and pulled him back up to his feet. 'Stefan she's dead.'

'No, no she can't be dead, she can't be,' Stefan said. 

'What's going on?' Damon asked as he stepped into the room and gasped. All around them people began to stir, save for the two corpses. 'Oh.'

'Please,' Stefan's hands were shaking as he turned to Klaus. 'Please.'

'Come on, come with me,' Klaus said as he started to lead Stefan from the room. 

'No, she's dead,' Stefan could feel the tears on his face, but he didn't care. She was dead, and he would never see her. She was dead, she was in a better place, and he was cursed to an eternity of watching the people he loved die. 

'Stefan love come-'

'Faun's dead,' Stefan sniffed. 

'Stefan, come with me,' Klaus took his arm. 

'No! How can we live, how do we deserve to live. I have to fight it every day, the need, the want, the desire, I want to kill, all the time, I want to kill, and drink and feast and how can you stand it Nik?' Stefan licked his lips. 

'You learn to live with it,' Klaus said softly. His eyes were wide and shining, and he was desperate, a part of Stefan could see it, but he couldn't get those girl's faces out of his mind. 

'No, no that's not something I think I can do,' Stefan said. 'I need to go.'

'Yes, come on,' Klaus said. 

'You don't understand, this is your fault, you did this to me,' Stefan said to Klaus. 'You talk about your curse, but you cursed me, and I don't want it.'

'Stefan you're upset you don't know what you're say-'

'I know exactly what I'm saying. My mind has never been clearer. Compel the truth from me if you want. I never want to see you again, do you understand me, I never want to see any of you ever again!' Stefan turned and left the room. 

'Stefan,' Klaus sounded desperate but Stefan sucked a breath in through his nose and kept his chin high. 'Stefan please.'

A tear fell as Stefan walked through the bar, and this time it wasn't for the girls or Faun, and Stefan refused to wipe it away. 

 

Stefan had disliked the time he spent in London, but Klaus made it bearable. This time, he hated it. 

He sat hunched over, in a bar, listening as around him the dock workers talked. 

'The only place worse than this is Dublin,' a woman behind the bar said with the curl of the lip. 'Them streets was the worst place I ever seen.'

Stefan finished the warm beer in his glass and pulled his jacket tight around his shoulders. No one knew him, recognized or remembered him. He only had a few things precious to him, the charmed piece of string Faun had gave him all those years ago when they sat a few tables away from Katherine and Mikael in southern France, the charmed rune that Faun had gifted him before she left for Corsica, and his daylight ring. His notebook was tucked safe in his pocket. 

Stefan had saved money doing a days work here and there, sleeping rough and catching rats to sustain his life. A few weeks was all it took and he headed to the train station bound for Liverpool with enough money in his pocket for passage to Dublin. 

It was bitter cold when Stefan stepped onto the docks. As was his habit he kept to the shadows and learned the back streets. He had only been in the city a few hours when someone grabbed him and shoved him against a wall. 

'Lost are you boy?' A voice asked. Stefan recognized the cockney accent he had left behind in London, but he didn't know its owner. 

'No,' he said. 

'You've a pretty mouth on you,' he ran a grubby thumb over Stefan's lips. 'I'll give you a penny to suck my cock.'

Stefan screwed his nose up and moved to shove him away, but the sound of a shout stopped him. 'Put that boy down Allister.'

'Want him for yourself do you?' Allister asked the stranger. 

'I'll not tell you again,' the stranger said. 

With a huff the man pushed off Stefan but he leered as he walked away. 

'What are you doing out here son?' The man asked. His clothes were neat but tired, he was well to do, but not well off. His voice conveyed a good education and Stefan found himself liking him. 

'Finding my way,' Stefan said. 

'You're American,' the man said. 'Come on, I know a place you can stay. You have to be careful on these streets, there are predators.'

'Like that man?' Stefan fell into step. 

'Like him, the gangs, and the other things,' he glanced at Stefan out of the corner of his eye. 

'What other things?' Stefan slid his hands into his pockets. 

'The vampires,' he said. 

Stefan swallowed, suddenly nervous. 'Vampires?'

'Blood sucking fiends,' he said. 

Stefan's heart was racing. Was this man a hunter? 'How do you know about vampires?'

'Oh I've traveled extensively. There was a time they were all over Europe, especially during the dark ages. I'm Bram, Bram Stoker,' he held a hand out. After a moments hesitation Stefan took it. 

'Steven Michaels,' Stefan said. 

'Well it's nice to meet you,' Bram's eyes shone in the darkness. 

'Forget my name,' Stefan whispered gently as he held Bram's gaze. 

'What did you say your name was?' He asked with a crooked frown. 

'Steven Michaels,' Stefan said. 

'Good. Now come on let's get you home.'

 

They talked long into the night, and as dawn crept over the horizon Bram stretched his feet out in front of the fire. 'And then there were the Mikaelsons.'

Stefan had been watching the flames dance but the name made him look up. 'Mikaelsons?'

Bram hummed. 'A family of psychotic vampires. The first family. We refer to them as vampire royalty.'

'Royalty,' Stefan said. It was certainly an accurate description, he had seen them act regally often enough. 

'They're headed by the oldest and most ruthless of all vampires, The Hybrid. Klaus they call him,' Bram nodded. 'He's responsible for the deaths of thousands. They say he was a plague.'

'You know a lot,' Stefan laced his fingers. 

'I know how to kill them, I even know where the weapons are,' Bram said. Stefan leaned closer. Over the course of the night he'd been testing Bram and he had confirmed Bram wasn't using vervain when he tasted a drop of his blood. 

'Will you tell me,' Stefan asked. 

'Have you ever heard of White Oak?' Bram whispered. 

'No,' Stefan swallowed as he lied. 

'There are two of them here, two weapons. White Oak Stakes,' Bram breathed. His lips curled into a smile. 'They're in a witches shop, and I'll tell you where if you change me.'

Stefan sat back. 'You know what I am?'

'Better. I know who. You're one of his entourage, I recall as a boy my father took me to New Orleans. A great beast was roaming the streets, a crocodile I think. You were one of the men that hunted it. My mother made me stay in my room, I saw you on the streets many times after that, sometimes with him. I was shocked to see you in Dublin last night,' Bram reached for his glass. 

'How long have you been following me?' Stefan asked. 

Bram shook his head. 'I only saw you last night for the first time since New Orleans,' he said. Stefan knew he wasn't lying. 'I'll tell you where the stakes are if you turn me.'

Stefan nodded. 'Okay, but first, let me tell you what it's really like to be a vampire.'

 

Stefan spent months with Bram and his family, living in a basement flat. He kept mostly to himself, hunted regularly and managed to keep a low profile. He spent a bit of time wondering how to convey the horror of his life, and then one day he started, putting pen to paper. 

As he wrote he became a recluse. For days he would write, drunk on adrenaline and lack of sleep. Hours blurred together and he dreamed of Klaus whilst wide awake. Sometimes the visions were so vivid that he expected the other vampire to walk through the door, was hurt when he didn't. 

After weeks Stefan finally put the manuscript away. He slept for almost three days then took a long walk where he indulged in the blood of several young woman. One girl with eyes of piercing blue reminded him so much of Klaus that he almost bedded her. 

Almost, but didn't. She wasn't Klaus and it felt wrong. He'd been faithful for thirty years, he wasn't about to change that now. Instead he made a stop at a bookstore and spent an enjoyable few days reading. 

When he went back to his manuscript he was shocked at his ramblings. It took several days to cut almost half of the words away. His second draft was written in libraries and drawing rooms of his friends. It was in one of these rooms where he met an aging countess. He enjoyed the chance to practice his German with her. 

'I make my home in Galway now, but my son, he lives here,' she said. 

'You miss him?' Stefan asked.

'Oh no,' she replied. 'He's a terrible person. You're one of them aren't you.'

Stefan nodded. There was no point denying it, not when she had invited him into her home. 

'I'll keep your secrets, I'll take them to the grave if you do for me just one thing,' she held up a bony finger. 

'Go on,' Stefan nodded. 

'Compel the evil from my boy,' she said. 'He's like his father.'

'What happened to him?' Stefan crossed his ankles. 

The countess smiled. 'There is an ancestor in our family, an aunt, who came to England one hundred and eighty years ago. Her first husband was a beast, and her second wasn't much better, but the second husband loved her. She died young, in her thirties, with no children. Her husband, it is said, promised her anything on her deathbed, and she asked him to protect her descendants from cruel husbands as he had done for her with her first husband. He agreed. Some forty years ago a handsome young man turned up on my doorstep, and he asked to be invited in. I knew the stories, and I knew what he was but I let him in. He asked after my health and how my husband treated me. I could not lie for he saw the bruises. My husband died that night.'

'A vampire?' Stefan asked. 

She nodded. 'Like you. Please, compel kindness into my boy, not for me but for the tenants I care so much for. They're my family, and I've only a year or so left in me.'

'I will,' Stefan said. He found the man later that night leaving a whore house. Stefan healed him of his drunkenness and the pox, compelled him, and sent him home. 

 

'Well done,' Stefan handed the manuscript to his friend Bram. 'Its brilliant. I wish you all the success in the world with your publication.'

'Thank you?' Bram frowned. Stefan sat down. 

'Now, tell me where the white oak stakes are,' Stefan said. 

Bram's eyes glazed over and he gave Stefan directions to a small shop not fifty yards from them. 

'Oh what shall I call my book?' Bram asked. 

Stefan smiled. 'I'll leave that up to you. Read it and see what you think?'

Bram nodded. 'I will.'

'Oh and will you send a copy to this address when you've published,' Stefan handed a piece of paper to Bram. 

'Klaus Mikaelson?' Bram looked up with wide eyes and Stefan shrugged his shoulders. 

'Call it a gift from an old friend.'

 

The book arrived in the post, wrapped in brown paper. There was no note with it. Klaus unwrapped it slowly, and with curious eyes turned to the first pages. 

At first he was confused, but soon he was enthralled and he barely paused to feed. It was the closest he'd felt to Stefan in years and he absorbed each word, thinking of his boy and wondering where he was and what he was doing. He could almost feel him reaching out. 

'Clever boy,' he whispered as he tucked the copy away safely and headed outside to gaze at the same moon he hoped Stefan would be looking at too.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains physical and mental torture.

The little shop stank of herbs and potions and filth. Stefan could hear something bubbling as he carefully navigated his way around piles of pages and book, wooden boxes filled with broken trinkets and heavy chests sealed shut by magic. Odd looking devices lay scattered and Stefan understood why this shop, if you could call it that, was on the fringes of Dublin society. He'd been watching it for weeks now and no one had ever come in or out. 

'Can I help you?' Her accent was thick. It was days since she had washed, grime clung to her hands and nails and Stefan could smell her pungent scent. He counted three teeth protruding from her gums. 'Dirty filthy blood sucking beast.'

Stefan paused. 'I'm looking for a special item, one that I've heard has the power to kill an Original vampire.'

'The Originals!' Her eyes were wild when she looked at him. 'Evil vile abominations the lot of them. Stuck up half reared little bastards.'

She turned away and Stefan listened to her insane ramblings. Things fell, glass shattered and she cursed everything. She came back a few minutes later with a grimy cloth. Inside were two wooden stakes. 'Are they-'

'White oak, see,' she spat on the dirty wood and scrubbed at it with the cuff of her sleeve. It looked more ash than white. 'You going to use it to kill one of the buggers?'

Stefan didn't answer her. She stared and eventually grunted in distaste at his silence. 

'How much?' Stefan asked. 

'Dirty ugly sickening putrid creatures,' she sucked on her cheek. 'I want some of your blood.'

'I'm not in the business of giving my blood out freely,' he said. He had a connection to Klaus, he needed to be careful in here. 

She gasped, clearly affronted. 'Greedy selfish boy you are.'

Stefan reached into his pocket and pulled out a bag of coins. Her eyes lit up and she nodded. A moment later came a leather wallet. 

'Don't like the paper,' she muttered. 'Useless stinking filthy stuff. It rots.'

'Oh you'll like this paper,' Stefan untied the strings and let it roll open. She groped around for a pair of spectacles and Stefan wondered how she saw anything out of them. 

'That's a blood bond,' she sniffed. 

Stefan smiled. 'Indeed. I've turned six vampires, and I found a witch in Paris who was a distant relative of an old friend of mine.'

'Who, who, what do you call her what's her name?' The witch rolled her hands impatiently. 

'Faun,' Stefan said. 

The witch grunted. 'Skinny cocky little know it all she was,' the witch sniffed. 'Humped on other girls.'

Stefan sighed. 'Do you want this or not,' he ran his thumb over the paper. 

'Useless piece of shit,' she grumbled. Stefan pulled it away and she hissed at him. 

'It's yours if you give me the stakes,' he said. 

'Just one,' she said. 

'What will get me both of them?' Stefan asked. 

'Greedy spoilt little bastard you are. Will you kill one of them?' Her eyes lit up. 

'If I have to,' Stefan said. It wasn't a lie. 

'Will you kill him?' She snarled. A grotesque smile appeared on her face. 

'I think you know the answer to that already,' Stefan said. 

'Bronagh? Bronagh get in here you lazy whore filthy little scum,' the witch hollered. The girl was no more than eighteen and clearly pregnant. 'You want her to suck your cock?'

'No,' Stefan said. 

'Prudish vulgar arse buggerer,' she hissed as she turned around to a cabinet behind her. 'Tell me how you'll do it?'

'What bugger arses?' Stefan snapped. His patience was wearing thin with this nasty old witch.

She laughed then and sat on a matted chair. It creaked dangerously under her weight. 'Bronagh what's he say?'

'He's honest. The witch Faun has a great respect for him,' Bronagh said. 

The old witch grunted. 

'Faun trusts him too, but the Original witch doesn't,' Bronagh said. 'In fact she hates him and doesn't want him to have the stakes.'

The old woman crowed with laughter. 'Stupid selfish bitch,' she muttered. 'Here have your stakes.'

Stefan reached for them and the same moment he laid his hand on one she grabbed him. Her eyes rolled in her head and she wailed high enough to hurt Stefan's ears. With a start he tried to pull away but her grip was solid. 

When she let go she looked startled for only a moment before she laughed. 'This one will kill an Original - the spell has been cast and cannot be undone,' she beamed. 

Stefan snatched the stakes up and turned away. He hadn't realized she was a banshee too and his confidence was knocked off. 

'Vampire,' Bronagh called. Stefan stopped and turned to face her. 'Faun says you've done your punishment, and it's time to go home. She says she's proud of you.'

Stefan nodded and turned to hurry out the door. His shadow, the one that had been with him since the Black Forest followed him as Stefan walked the streets. With a snarl Stefan turned and snapped his neck then disappeared into the shadows. 

 

A harsh wind whipped off the Atlantic Ocean. It wailed like a ferocious banshee across the beaches and through the coastal towns of Galway A lashing of cold cruel rain followed in its wake, and it beat into the mourners as they made the short journey from chapel to graveyard. 

Shoes once black were caked in mud, even the old horse that pulled the hearse dropped his head from the weather. Still the mourners followed the coffin, stretched back almost a mile, trapped on the narrow road. 

The Countess had been a well liked woman. She was fair, prone to charity and sympathy and the grief of the town was real. At a time her son had been her opposite, arrogant and vindictive but he had returned from Dublin with a handsome American friend by his side, and the friend had changed the man somewhat. 

There were whispers among the most savvy of townsfolk that the two men were more than friends, but a marriage to a local girl months ago, and evidence of a baby had allowed the rumors simmer down but they hadn't died out and folks still whispered. The American stayed though, and most liked his polite easy going manner.

The graveyard was on a hillside overlooking the ocean, and the Manor House could be seen from here. The Countess, many years ago, had commissioned the graveyard for the town and had insisted she was buried with her folk. 

The priest spoke at length despite the weather and the coffin was lowered into the ground. 

'She's at peace now Samuel,' Father Owens squeezed the young mans shoulder.

'Aye father she is,' he said. 

'Come on,' the American voice rang out, 'let's go say goodbye properly. With whiskey.'

There was a laugh and some chatter but Samuel turned away from them to where the gravedigger stood with his cap clutched in his hands, soaked to the skin, waiting to bury the countess. 

'Here,' he passed a small purse full of coins to the man. 'May I ask that you don't cover the box until the last mourner has left your sight.'

'I can do that,' the gravedigger put the purse in his pocket. 

'Thank you, the day is miserable,' Samuel called. 

'Happy is the coffin that the rain falls on,' the gravedigger shrugged. 

'Do you have a name?' Samuel asked. His wife and friend had walked on, but he needed to do this, this was what his mother would have done. 

'Stefan Salvatore,' the gravedigger smiled st him. 'But you'll not remember that. Now go, mourn your mother, and remember what we talked about in Dublin.'

'Act as she did,' Samuel said dazedly. 

Stefan nodded and Samuel turned away. He waited until he was alone and then with swift movements hopped down onto the lid of the coffin. He opened it easily and reached into his inside pocket. The oilskin cloth would keep the box it was wrapped around dry, and Stefan set it next to the corpses head. 

'Thank you,' he whispered as he touched her cheek with his knuckle, and then he closed the lid and began to cover the box. There was only one stake inside, the other lay deep in a tomb in Dublin. 

Stefan didn't think it possible but somehow, as he buried the countess, the rain got heavier. 

 

Stefan bought a third class ticket to Boston, a new suit and a sturdy pair of boots.

It was a pleasant crossing. Stefan shared with three other young men who taught him Irish and were kind enough to forget that they donated blood to him frequently. In turn Stefan promised he would help them find work. 

He longed for peace and solitude though and everyday he would escape the packed cabins and deck and climb to where the lifeboats were suspended. Here he would think, about his family in Mystic Falls and lost friends that he'd known over the yeas. He often wondered what Damon was doing, but most of all he thought about Klaus. 

Klaus, with his blue eyes and messy hair and impossible temper. Klaus, whom Stefan loved more than anything. Seven years they had been apart, and Stefan's feelings had never changed. Perhaps he loved the man more. Klaus could have found him, Faun made sure of that yet Klaus had given him his space, maybe found comfort in other bodies that weren't Stefan. An inkling of hurt caught in Stefan's throat at the thought but he couldn't be angry at Klaus for that. 

Stefan ran his thumb on the slight lump on his left wrist where Faun had placed the rune. He recalled the day she done it, he was touched by her kindness, perhaps she knew that there would be times they were apart. The rune allowed him to feel Klaus' life, and in turn the rune Klaus had in the same place offered him the same courtesy. 

Stefan pressed his thumb into the lump. It didn't hurt, but it did burn slightly. That meant Klaus was touching his too. 

Stefan smiled and closed his eyes, hoping that Klaus would at least talk to him, consider him, consider that Stefan needed this time apart to come to terms with himself. He just hoped that Klaus didn't reject him right away. Leaving had been the hardest thing Stefan ever did.

It was almost dark when Stefan returned to the deck. There was a woman, small and too well dressed to be third class waiting for him. 

'Can I help you?' Stefan asked. 

'Are you a vampire?' She breathed as she stepped closer. 

Stefan swallowed, suddenly uncomfortable. He didn't step away like he wanted to. 

'I'm a vampire, and I'm terribly lonely. Would you like to be my friend?' She asked. 

'I'm happy just the way I am,' Stefan said as he tried to move around her but she was fast, obviously much older than he. 

'I want to be your friend Stefan. My name is Aurora, and we're going to have an awful lot of fun together!' She giggled and Stefan swallowed because he knew exactly who this was and he had no place to run.

 

Klaus stared at the tiny lump on his wrist. Stefan was uncomfortable, he could feel it through the stone. With a frown Klaus sat up, Stefan must be close if he could feel him this strong. Discomfort turned to fear, and Klaus swung his legs out of bed and then the fear disappeared buggerer amusement. 

Klaus wondered who Stefan was with, what was amusing him. He glanced at the trunk filled with Stefan's things, the trunk Klaus refused to leave behind. It was more important to him than most of his own things. 

Klaus decided he would summon a witch and have a locater spell done later. It had been a long time since he checked up on Stefan. His lover needed time, Damon had spent hours making Klaus understand it, but it didn't stop Klaus from following him. 

Stefan hadn't moved about much lately, he tended to travel around Ireland mostly, doing what Klaus didn't know. 

Klaus washed and dressed himself and downstairs he found Damon flirting with one of the house girls. 

'I need a witch,' Klaus told Damon. 

Damon sighed. 'Stefan's like a dog. He'll come home when he's hungry and tired of sleeping rough.'

Klaus turned to glare at Damon. He in equal parts, loathed and respected the man. 'Just get me a witch.'

'Why doesn't one of your dogs get a witch?' Damon snarled. 

Klaus rolled his eyes. 'Get over it. It was a long time ago. Now I asked you, because for some reason, witches like you more than me. Get me a witch.'

Damon stood and stalked from the room and Klaus turned to his desk. Without Stefan Klaus knew he was irritable and unreasonable, and seven years had done nothing to diminish his need for his boy. He loved Stefan deeply, and if Stefan turned up on the doorstep Klaus would welcome him with open arms. 

'Jessica love,' Klaus called out. The pretty girl appeared in the doorway and tilted her long neck to the side. Klaus brushed his fingers over her skin and pressed a tender kiss to her pulse point before his fangs slid into her warm skin. He closed his eyes and pictured Stefan watching them, his eyes hooded and lips loose. Klaus imagined reaching for Stefan and sharing the blood still in his mouth. The kiss would be messy but so very satisfying. Stefan would lick and suck the last traces of blood from Klaus' tongue and then slide his hands inside Klaus' pants. Klaus would arch his hips forward-

Jessica gasped and Klaus realized her was grinding against her bottom. He took a step away and then turned, wiping his mouth and hurrying upstairs. The house shook when he slammed his bedroom door closed and leaned against it. 

As he slid to the floor he gazed at his wrist. Most days Klaus functioned well, but everyday he thought of his love. Some days were worse than others, and Klaus knew today would be a long one. 

He kissed the bump on his skin, and then he folded his arms over his knees and closed his eyes, picturing his boy stripping off and diving into the lake in Mystic Falls. It wasn't the nudity, but the smile Stefan had when he broke the surface of the water. It was the moment that lust and desire and fond affection turned into love. 

It was Klaus' favorite memory, his safe place inside his head. It was his sanctuary. 

 

'Do you know that I was his first love?' Aurora asked as she circled Stefan. 'His first turn.'

'You were neither,' Stefan muttered. The vervain had his head swimming, but he could still see flashes of red as she paced around him. 

'What would you know little boy?' Aurora asked. 'I'm centuries older than you are!'

'I know,' Stefan said. Tatia, Katherine's image. Klaus and Elijah had discussed her occasionally. Tatia was Klaus' first love. And Lucian his first turn. 

A smile lit her face, and Stefan could see how pretty she was. 'Has he talked about me?'

'Oh yes,' Stefan nodded. It felt good to nod, to be able to move. Every other part of him was bound to this cross she had set up. Stefan hated it. 

'What did he say? Did he tell you that he loved me? That he treasured me. How special I was to him?' Aurora gushed. Behind her there was a face of a man. It took Stefan's tired mind a moment to register it was the man who referred to himself as Jack the Ripper. He smiled at Stefan and caressed the weapon he'd been crafting back in London when they found him a decade ago. 

'He told me that you were a memory,' Stefan said. Klaus mentioned her once or twice, referred to her as beautifully insane. 

Aurora hummed and reached for a knife. It was long and flat with an extremely sharp edge. She pressed it into the soft skin on the inside of his right elbow and then with slow careful movements she sliced the skin right off. 

Stefan screamed in pain, but then she lifted a tiny bottle of clear liquid. The vervain stung and Stefan cried out again. 

'Cry baby,' she said as she lifted a length of ribbon and wrapped it over the raw skin. It had been soaked in vervain too, and Stefan fought against his restraints, but it was no good. He was weak. She made a complicated weave, then replaced the flap of skin. It began to heal over the ribbon. 

Aurora watched and when the skin had knitted completely and there were no marks, she tore it out. 

And then the witch handed her the knife. Aurora carved shapes in his skin, and watched with delight as the blood fell from him. 

'Just one more sacrifice and it's done,' Aurora said.

Stefan struggled desperate to get away but she just laughed. 'Oh not you silly, you pathetic little vampire. We need a beautiful girl. A witch, or a seer,' Auroras eyes lit up and Stefan remembered the little girl in London. Bethany, her name was. 

The witch smiled and bowed out of Auroras presence. After he had left she lifted the sharp blade again. 'Now, let's find someplace really sensitive,' her eyes sparkled and Stefan swallowed. 

Eventually, thankfully, Stefan blacked out. 

 

Klaus could feel the pain and fear stronger now more than ever. 

'Hurry up!' He snarled. 

The witch turned to glare at him. 'I can't with you hovering over me!' She spat. 

Klaus turned away and stared out the window. He could feel fear and nausea seeping through his body. His hands curled into fists and a moment later he'd punched through the thick brick of the wall. A gaping hole allowed a stream of light in and two vampires who had yet to earn daylight rings scurried out of the way of it. 

The witch was chanting something, and Klaus paced, stopping to grip chair backs when his frustrations got too much. He wanted to choke her, to scream at all of them but it was no good. He wouldn't be happy until he had Stefan in his arms. 

For weeks now Stefan had been in agony, and eleven witches had failed to find him. 

'He's not here,' the witch said. 

Klaus roared. 'He has to be!'

'Somethings cloaking him, another witch perhaps,' the woman swallowed. 

Klaus rounded on her, but to her credit she stood her ground. 'What is your name?' 

'Rebbecca,' she said. 

'Rebbecca. I have a sister of the same name. Rebbecca inside my wrist is a rune stone. It was placed in there by a very strong, very loyal witch. This stone links me to him so we can feel each other. Right now he's in utter agony, and in the depths of his despair and he's calling for my help,' Klaus took her hand. She was an older woman, in her fifties perhaps. He could feel tears coat his eyes but he didn't care. He'd been told she was the most powerful witch on the East Coast. 

'You're linked through this stone?' Rebbecca asked gently. 

Klaus nodded. She shifted out of his grip and took his hand to examine the small bump. 'It cannot be removed, according to her spell,' Klaus said. 

'Do you have a copy of it? The spell I mean?' Rebbecca asked. Her eyelids were fluttering in something akin to bliss, and Klaus realized it was the magic coming off it. 

'I do, I'll get it for you?' Klaus asked. 

'Please,' Rebbecca said. 

'If this is a trick,' Klaus gripped her shoulders.

'It's not, you have my word,' Rebbecca nodded. 

After studying the spell Rebbecca cleared her throat. 'May I touch the stone?' 

Klaus stared for a moment before he reached for the knife. He cut into his wrist and ignored the pain as he bared the stone to her view. Rebbecca pressed her finger to it, and another to Klaus' blood on the map. She chanted a few words and the blood sizzled and burned, soaking into the paper. 

Rebbecca removed her hand and after a few moments Klaus began to heal, but his eyes stayed trained on the map. The blood faded completely, and then the paper itself started to bleed. 

'They're in Boston,' Rebbecca said as blood poured from the spot that marked the city. 

'Okay, thank you,' Klaus said as he handed over payment. 

'Take this,' Rebbecca said folding the map and the spell. She scrawled something onto a piece of paper. 'Information on my spell I just did, if you need it again.'

Klaus nodded and called for Damon. 

'Come,' he told Damon. 'We're going to Boston to get Stefan.'

 

Stefan sighed and blinked up at the blue sky. He was lying in a field watching the clouds. Klaus sat next to him sketching. It was serene, and quiet, with just the occasional smile for each other. It was all Stefan could conjure, his mind was as exhausted as his body, and even picturing Klaus' face was draining the energy from Stefan's weak frame. 

There was movement behind him and his fantasy disappeared from view. Left behind was him, his body laced with vervain soaked ribbons sewn into his skin. Aurora would tug a ribbon at random then giggle as Stefan screamed. When he was weak she would invade his mind, trying to watch his memories and manipulate his thoughts. He'd been saved more times than he cared to count so when Klaus wrapped his arms around Stefan, Stefan just stared. He knew it wasn't real but for a second he absorbed Klaus' strength.

'Stefan,' Klaus breathed. There were tears in his eyes, that was new. Stefan blinked as he was released from his cross to the floor. 

Stefan waited for Aurora. The last time Klaus was saving Stefan, he stopped when he spotted Aurora and they left Stefan where he was. Stefan watched, unable to close his eyes, as they fucked on the table next to him. Klaus had told Aurora how much he loved her and they left Stefan to his fate. 

Now he was being lifted onto that table. 'Go away,' Stefan muttered but Klaus was examining the ribbon in his bicep. Stefan hated these ones, where Klaus joined the torture too. Klaus would apologize at first and then he would beam with delight when Stefan was begging and pleading for him to stop. 

'Oh my love, what have they done to you?' Klaus stroked Stefan's face. 

Stefan smiled. In this moment Klaus was his, and he knew that soon Aurora would find some new way to hurt him, but for now, he drunk the face of the man he loved into his soul. 

Klaus touched the ribbon and hissed. 'Vervain,' Stefan warned uselessly. In the fantasies they never burned Klaus. 

Klaus closed the distance between them. His lips were warm and firm, and Stefan longed for this moment to last forever. 'Here love,' Klaus whispered. He pressed a bloody wrist to Stefan's lips and Stefan drank greedily, but Klaus healed too soon. Stefan whined in disappointment when he could get no more. 

Klaus bent his head, pressed his lips to Stefan's forehead, and then everything went black. 

 

Klaus worked as quick as he could, but Stefan came around before he was finished. Klaus snapped his neck again and removed the last of the ribbon from his back. 

He glared over the angry marks on his lovers body, a body he hadn't seen in years, and the rage in his chest churned. He was going to murder anyone who was involved in this. He was going to murder them and whomever he found them with. 

Using gentle hands he carried Stefan to the carriage waiting outside. Stefan stayed unconscious the short journey to the house Klaus had acquired. He tucked Stefan into bed, and sat with him for a few moments until Stefan stirred. It was cowardly to run, but Stefan needed to know this wasn't some twisted fantasy, this was reality. 

He headed downstairs and found Gretta and Henry, two of his werewolves. 'We have evidence that it was a woman called Aurora, but we can't find her,' Greta said. 

'She's a very old, very powerful vampire. I don't want anyone risking themselves. I'll find her in time, but for now we protect this house and Stefan okay?' Klaus said. 'What of her witches, see if you can find anything out about them.'

They nodded and Klaus heard Stefan move upstairs. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and headed outside into the fresh air. 

 

Stefan woke with a start. He was alone, and in a strange room. It was morning, he guessed, and as he slowly sat up, he realized this could be another of her tricks. 

How many times had he been rescued by Klaus or Damon or Faun. Hell even Katherine had been his Saviour once. This wasn't a trick though, he wasn't hungry and he couldn't feel that dull pain that always lingered. 

Flashes came back to him, noises, screams, begging and pleading. 

Klaus. Klaus was there. Klaus saved him, had lifted Stefan from the hooks and held him. Had they kissed or was it just wishful thinking?

Stefan swung his legs over the side and looked around. The room was plain but the view was spectacular. He was in New England he guessed, and it was Fall. The colors on the trees were a rich array of reds, golds and browns, with a mixture of hues in between. 

Klaus had saved him then, and Stefan guessed Aurora had been holding him for several weeks. It felt like decades. 

Stefan found clean clothes on a dresser, and he pulled them on. He realized that despite his disorientation he didn't feel anything about his weeks of torture. In fact, safety and warmth filled his gut. Klaus must have bled himself dry in order to blood share with Stefan. 

Blood sharing was intimate and possessive, it had been years since they had been either. With a determined nod Stefan opened the door into a wide hallway. The house was large and airy, and it took a journey downstairs to find its inhabitants. 

Two vampires Stefan didn't know were in the kitchen and three werewolves were lounging in the hall. Stefan could hear laughing in another room but he headed out the back door and gulped in a lungful of air. 

He wasn't alone on the veranda. Klaus stood at the other end with his arms folded across his chest. Stefan slid his hands in his pockets and padded across to him. 

'Good morning,' Stefan said. His throat tightened and his fingers itched to reach for Klaus. It had been seven long years and Klaus looked just as he left him. 

Klaus turned to him with those broken eyes he sometimes wore and Stefan offered him a smile. There was a time when Stefan would have closed the gap, kissed Klaus and comforted away whatever mental punishment Klaus was inflicting upon himself. 

'You look better,' Klaus said, but he didn't drop eye contact with Stefan. 

Stefan nodded. 'This is a nice place.'

'We always talked about coming here to write and paint,' Klaus admitted. 'I read your book, by the way. Interesting description of the vampire.'

'I heard Katherine was in Transylvania,' Stefan said with what he hoped was a casual shrug. 'I know Mikael was.'

'You made yourself female though,' Klaus frowned. 

Stefan smiled. 'Perhaps I'm Renfield, not Mia,' he said. 'Perhaps you're Mia.'

Klaus laughed, deep and rich and Stefan had to ball his hands into fists to keep from reaching for the man he loved. It would be so easy but would Klaus want him, broken as he was? He'd only just healed his own shattered mind only for Aurora to undo everything. 

Their laughs died off and they fell into an awkward silence. 

'I should probably go,' Stefan said finally. 

Klaus gave him those eyes again. 'Where?'

'I haven't seen Damon in a few years,' Stefan admitted. 

'He's here, he helped get you back,' Klaus turned his eyes back to the trees. 

'Oh,' Stefan shifted his feet. 

'If you don't want to be here then-'

'I don't want to leave, I don't want to go anywhere but I can't be around you,' Stefan said. He wanted to add more about touching and kissing, holding and loving and needing but he didn't. 

'Am I that much of a monster?' Klaus spat bitterly. 

'No, no you're just not mine anymore,' Stefan swallowed and turned away. 

Pain worse than anything Aurora inflicted chewed at his heart. He was heavy with it, and as he walked off the veranda and across the garden to destinations unknown he counted his steps. It was easier to do that than focus on the fact that Klaus hadn't chased after him like Stefan wanted him too. 

He had been walking for miles when he started to wonder if he would ever see his love again.


	5. Chapter 5

Klaus looked over the body of the infamous Jack the Ripper. He was torn now; torn to shreds. Klaus had taken his time, thinking of all the victims the man had terrorize, not just in England but here too in America. And it wasn't just humans. When Klaus had found him there were corpses of other witches, of werewolves and vampires. The man was truly a monster. 

'Just like me,' Klaus whispered to himself. He allowed himself a moment to wallow in whatever self loathing was clawing at his mind and then he turned around, away from the corpse to examine the room. 

The realization that he was linked to Aurora infuriated Klaus. He longed to know if there was something larger going on, a bigger plan, but if there was he knew nothing, the witch was just a means to an end for Aurora. 

He may not have been able to locate Aurora but her pathetic witch Acolyte had been satisfaction enough for now. Klaus had imagined Stefan's pain and misery as he ended the witches life. He had drawn on his deepest agonies, the sight of Stefan walking away, or hanging in that cellar his body wrecked and his beautiful mind fractured. Stefan hadn't trusted him and Klaus didn't blame him, how could he when they had him on a concoction of potions and poisons tormenting his soul. 

'There's no trace of her,' Damon said when Klaus walked out of the room. His hands and face were covered in blood, and the corpses on the floor indicated Damon had enjoyed his own fun, but this much bloodshed was sure to attract Mikael. They would need to leave Boston soon. 

'Her entourage?' Klaus asked as he wiped his hands on a bloody rag.

'There were a few names mentioned, Elizabeth Buckshield, Roy Greer, Armond?' Damon made a face and it made Klaus smile.

'I recognize none of them. They must be loyal to her, probably turned by her,' Klaus mused as he looked at the other names Damon had scribbled down. 'Do you collect them?' 

'What do you mean?' Damon asked as they walked away from the carnage. 

'The deaths, do you collect them, recall them in any way?' Klaus asked. 

Damon shook his head. 'I've lost track of the people I've killed.'

'I haven't,' Klaus said. He touched the small notebook in his pocket, Stefan's notebook where he kept his names. Klaus had found it discarded with a few other bits and pieces of cheap clothing Klaus didn't recognize He would return it to Stefan one day.

'You miss him, Stefan I mean,' Damon said. They stopped to examine the witch's desk and Klaus soon found what he was looking for. The letter was tucked into the breast pocket of his jacket. 

'Your brother calms and sooths me,' Klaus admitted. 'I'll seek revenge for what was done to him.'

'Best go and find him then hadn't you,' Damon said. 'Leave revenge to fester and grow for a few years.'

Klaus looked at Damon and found the other vampire smiling at him. 'He walked away.'

'But he was broken, again. Perhaps you're his glue as he is yours,' Damon shrugged. 

Klaus mused Damon's words for a few hours. They traveled together for a week, but soon Klaus decided it was time to branch out. He was seeking his lover and he would find him.

-

Stefan returned to Mystic Falls. To the house that Klaus had built for them. 

He spent half a day removing dust sheets from the furniture and making the place generally presentable. Fires were set in grates and he picked up enough local supplies to distract himself from his need to feed regularly. He made subtle inquiries about Federico Salvatore, the brother he'd met last time he was in Mystic Falls, and the responses were promising. 

Frederico was a handsome young man who was a keen member of the town council and respected local business man. He was married and they were expecting their first child. The opinion on Federico's wife wasn't so positive, but Stefan suspected the woman was just misunderstood.

Satisfied that Federico was doing well, Stefan only went to the house once, but he didn't make his presence known and he waited a few moments before he turned around and left Federico to his life. Stefan went back home with something stirring in his belly, some sort of idea building and forming and needing to escape him.

He was there three days when he started to write his third book. Coincidentally that was the same day he had his first nightmare. He woke in a sweat alone in the attic room he favored over the master suite he and Klaus had so carefully designed. The door to that room had been left closed, the dust sheets still in place. 

After his nightmare the first thing he did was reach for Klaus, but he wasn't next to him, hadn't been for years now. Stefan wondered if he'd ever get used to waking alone, but instead of wallowing he reached for the notebook next to his bed.

Stefan didn't hesitate to record the details, every dream and nightmare got described and his characters started to take shape and adopt personalities. They grew demons and fostered traits and the plots took on a life of their own and scenes opened up and developed. 

It took three weeks to write his first draft, and five to write the second. 

Stefan became a recluse, he stayed in the house for hours on end, hunting only when he threatened to fall desperate for blood. He just took what he needed, healed and compelled his victims and sent them on their way. He was deadly careful, he needed to be, he knew how weak and vulnerable he was making himself. 

As Christmas approached Stefan tucked the second draft away carefully, deciding that he would look at it again in the New Year and made the house nice. He didn't go to extremes, just a small tree and a few ornaments. 

Loneliness nipped at his heels, but Stefan wasn't ready to do anything about that. He considered finding new turns but he didn't have the energy or care to coach baby vampires, so he selected his favorite books and laid them out on the table next to his chair. 

A few days before Christmas he noticed it. He was being watched. It was the first time in months he felt it, eyes boring into him, his movements being tracked. Stefan was weak, too weak to protect himself. He was nervous at first, he had no idea of Aurora's fate after all, but on Christmas Eve, as Stefan enjoyed a bourbon next to the fire, the door opened and Klaus stalked in. 

-

Niklaus Mikaelson was born in the year 979, as winter raged around them. In the spring of 1001 he became immortal. 

In his extensive lifetime he suffered few regrets, but one of them sat before his eyes right now. 

Stefan Salvatore had some sort of hold over him, it went beyond love and affection, deeper than desire, tighter than soul mates. During these last years apart Klaus had often contemplated the young man, he had took time to examine memories, not just saucy or precious moments but their mundane day to day activities. Discussing politics and getting dressed side by side was as thrilling to Klaus as hunting and fucking. 

Klaus had never managed to reach a conclusion other than he couldn't live without Stefan, not really. That, and he'd give up everything for him. 

Stefan himself wasn't a regret, Klaus didn't even regret meeting him, spending thirty six years, give or take, with him. What Klaus regretted most was not chasing after him that morning in New England. 

In his misery Klaus had come to the home they built together, and as luck would have it Stefan was already there. Klaus had watched him for a few days before he managed to approach. He opened the door and followed the sounds of the crackling fire. Stefan was sitting on a sofa almost as if he was waiting for Klaus. 

'Merry Christmas,' Klaus handed Stefan a brown paper parcel. Stefan had a curious smile on his face as he carefully unwrapped the string, and then pulled the paper away. 

Klaus sat next to Stefan, and looked from his hands to his face. Stefan's eyes were wet. 

'This was the first Christmas gift you ever gave me,' he whispered as his thumb caressed the lettering. 'Although not the same book.'

'That one is safe, waiting for you to return home to New Orleans,' Klaus said. 

'Are you trying to ensure we have a copy of this in each of our homes?' Stefan opened the front cover. The words "we" and "ours" thrilled Klaus more than he cared to admit. 'Always and forever yours, Klaus,' he read aloud. 

'You're family, you're a Mikaelson, even if you're not by name or blood, you always will be to me,' Klaus swallowed. 

Stefan nodded and got to his feet. He poured a glass of bourbon for Klaus then sat back down and opened to the first page. 

'Marley was dead to begin with. There was no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergymen, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's name was good upon "change for anything he chose to put his hand to". Old Marley was dead as a doornail...'

Klaus sat, sipped his drink, occasionally refilled their glasses for them, but he listened all night as Stefan read aloud the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and how a few simple acts of humanity changed his life forever. 

-

'I left your first book in the safe in the upstairs study,' Klaus took a sip of his bourbon. He let it linger on his tongue for a moment before he swallowed. 

'Faun's tale?' Stefan said fondly. 'I'm not ready to share her with the world.'

'She was special,' Klaus agreed. 

'We were never worthy of her friendship,' Stefan agreed. 

'Yet she gave it to us,' Klaus murmured. 'I found your notebook as well.'

Stefan's eyes were sharp. 'I haven't needed it since you rescued me.'

They fell silent each lost in their own thoughts. It was dark, Christmas Day was ending. 

'Tell me something, lift me from this melancholy, tell me a Christmas story,' Stefan smiled. 

'I wrote "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" you know,' Klaus said and proceeded to sing the tune. His rich tones filled the room and made Stefan grin. 

'You never told me that,' Stefan said. He was resting his chin on his hand as he looked across the table to where Klaus lounged with a glass of bourbon. The fire was roaring in the hearth and the wind had picked up outside. For the first time in months Stefan felt safe in his own skin, secure in his mind. He knew it was Klaus' presence that soothed him. 

'I have a thousand stories to share with you Stefan,' Klaus smiled warmly. 'Elijah and I were in Lincolnshire, it was 1713. I had just been wed that summer to a widowed Duchess, the lovely Erica. She was German by birth, and terribly rich, but she did love Christmas and parties. We hosted over fifty people that year, and Elijah had a wonderful time playing ditties on the piano. Well, we ran out of carols to sing so Elijah plucked a few keys and I began to sing along and eventually after an hour or so we came up with our song.'

'And now it's sang far and wide,' Stefan folded his arms. 

'We sang it to the less fortunate. Erica was a sweet girl, and she was kind to our neighbors. They ate well each Christmas she lived,' Klaus smiled fondly. 'My brother and I ate well the rest of the year.'

'You didn't turn her?' Stefan asked. 

'I intended to but she died of a cancer I suspect,' Klaus shrugged. 

'You had a sketch of her. I recall seeing it,' Stefan reached for one of the candies that sat in a bowl in the middle of the table. 'She was pretty.'

'I remember some more fondly than others. Erica had terrible eyesight the poor girl but she was special to me once,' Klaus lifted his eyes to Stefan's face. 

'I've missed you, I've missed this,' Stefan reached out and wrapped his fingers around Klaus'. 

'You fell in love with me once, in Mystic Falls, do you think perhaps if I spent a few months here, that you might fall in love with me once again?' Klaus spoke slowly, choosing each word carefully. 'I'll stay away, I'll find other accommodation. I'll give you whatever you need.'

'Nik, let's get one thing straight. Never, not once, did I ever stop loving you. I was always yours,' Stefan lifted the corner of his lips. 

'I'm going to stand up and I'm going to kiss you now, okay?' Klaus said. 

Stefan met him halfway around the table. 

Klaus felt good against him and Stefan closed his eyes and absorbed him in, memorizing every second of their kiss. 'Don't, please don't stay away,' Stefan swallowed. 'I need you here with me.' 

'Whatever you need,' Klaus reminded Stefan gently as they shared another kiss. 

-

Stefan had changed, Klaus realized as he gazed into his lovers eyes, changed more than once. Klaus loved him no less for it, but there was a strength that their time apart had allowed to bloom inside Stefan. He had always been strong, had always been a young man with an old soul, and whatever it was that Klaus had seen back in 1864 was here now, strong and solid. 

Klaus had a fair idea of the pain Stefan had been suffering, not just at the hands of Aurora, but at his own self. Klaus was no stranger to self punishment, self criticism, and it hurt that his boy felt that way too. 

Stefan's hand cupped Klaus' cheek, and his lips were firm and strong. Klaus found himself submitting to Stefan easily. How could he not? Stefan was powerful, but gentle, beautiful, and confident. Klaus had been around so long, had been in control so long that these moments that Stefan took let him relax. But this time was different, Klaus could tell. He may have give in and submitted before, but he was never fully Stefan's, he'd always held something back to protect himself. 

Today he would be Stefan's utterly and completely, just as Stefan had been his for the last thirty six years. Stefan had bared his vulnerability so Klaus returned the favor. 

Stefan had always been good at taking control, it suited him. Klaus loved how it looked on him, it turned him on and warmed his soul, the soul that, piece by piece, Stefan had been rebuilding. 

Nothing held him down, reduced his strength. Klaus gave it all to Stefan as he tangled his legs with Stefan's and encouraged more of anything Stefan was willing to surrender. Soft words of love were exchanged, promises were repeated and they were sincere when they pleaded never to be apart again. Klaus didn't want to let go and he was delighted to find Stefan the same. 

'I found two white oak stakes,' Stefan said later. Klaus was curled tight to his boys side and Stefan stroked his hair gently. They were buried beneath piles of blankets listening to another winter storm rage. 

'Where are they?' Klaus asked. 

'Safe. Not here, not even in America,' Stefan said. 

'Did you hide them some place during your stay in Ireland?' Klaus asked. 

Stefan chuckled. 'You never stopped following me.'

'Never,' Klaus agreed. 

'They're with a good friend of mine,' Stefan turned to kiss Klaus. 

Jealousy clawed at Klaus, how could he trust this friend. And how close was this friend to Stefan. He was more upset about this than the existence of two weapons that could end his life. 

'She's dead Nik, you've nothing to worry about,' Stefan kissed his forehead. 

'She?' Klaus said. 

'Yes, she.' Stefan rubbed his cheek against Klaus' forehead. 'I believe you met her once. She was a great niece of your Erica.'

Klaus recalled a pretty young woman with bruises on her throat and chest. She had been so defiant, and was almost relieved when Klaus tossed her husbands drunken body from a horse. She was pretty and Klaus had hesitated before he left but that was some forty years ago, just before he met Stefan. 

'Did you ever seek sex out?' As soon as Klaus said it he wished he could take it back. 

The hand stroking his back stopped. 'Did you?'

'I did,' Klaus said. 'Twice, but I never got any further than a fumble with laces or buttons. They weren't you.'

'There was one woman in Dublin, she had these eyes that made me think of you. I pinned her against a wall but I could barely kiss her without picturing you,' Stefan turned to Klaus. 

'Maybe I should fuck you against the wall,' Klaus suggested. 

'You already have. A few times actually,' Stefan grinned. 'I recall once in Germany we broke a door.'

Klaus chuckled. 'I don't want it to be the same as before, I don't want to drive you away,' Klaus rolled so he was hovering over Stefan. Stefan leaned up to kiss him and at the same time he hooked his legs around Klaus' hips. 

'I drove me away. I kept all my pain and grief inside, and I should have turned to you for support,' Stefan stroked Klaus' cheek. 

'Let's not fight love,' Klaus settled himself on Stefan's chest. 'Let's hide here.'

'I'll tell you, when I'm ready, I'll tell you every detail,' Stefan promised. 

'I'll keep you safe, and one day, we'll go hunting,' Klaus promised as he kissed Stefan. 

-

'A new century,' Klaus said as the clock on the mantelpiece clicked midnight. 'What joys shall the 1900's bring us?' He held his glass up. 

Stefan clinked his glass into Klaus' glass. The fire was roaring in the grate but peace had fallen outside the window, and they were together on a comfortable sofa. 

'So, what now?' Stefan asked. 

Klaus set his glass aside and took Stefan's from him. 

'Now I fuck you on this sofa and show you how much I love you,' Klaus smirked as he hovered over Stefan and pushed the other man to his back.


End file.
